CA1069277A

CA1069277A - Fluidization apparatus

Info

Publication number: CA1069277A
Application number: CA240,309A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Leo R. Idaszak
Original assignee: Unilever Bestfoods North America
Current assignee: Unilever Bestfoods North America
Priority date: 1974-11-25
Filing date: 1975-11-24
Publication date: 1980-01-08
Also published as: NL7513765A; AR208418A1; FI62958B; SE408020B; YU37071B; YU298775A; BE835888A; SE7513172L; GB1498206A; FR2291787B1; BR7507802A; DK153525B; FI62958C; FI753304A; AT369288B; US3967975A; AT369667B; JPS5176169A; ATA896575A; AU8691975A

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Apparatus for carrying out fluidized operations including a housing defining an upper chamber and a lower chamber, with each of the chambers containing agitating means therein to insure a high degree of homogeneity in each of the chambers, a plurality of tubes enclosed in a jacket positioned between the upper and lower chambers and com-municating therewith, the tubes providing large heat transfer surfaces, inlet means to supply a fluidizable material to the one chamber and outlet means to remove fluidizable material from the other chamber, and means to supply a fluidizing gas to the lower chamber whereby the fluidizing gas passes up-wardly through the lower chamber and through the tubes into the upper chamber while fluidizing the material in each of the upper chamber, the tubes and the lower chamber. The apparatus of the invention is particularly well suited for carrying out fluidized operations of a wide variety, such as chemical reactions and/or unit operations.

Description

The present invention relates to a ~luidization apparatus, and more particularly, to a fluidized bed apparatus for carrying out chemical reactions and/or unit operations.
Fluidized bed equipment has been used for years for a variety of purposes, including the carrying out of chemical reactions and/or unit operations such as drying. In the usual fluidized bed, a solid phase is suspended in an upwardly moving fluid stream, usually a gas stream, whereby the mass of solid particles behaves somewhat like a boiling liquid. The solid phase may be a catalyst to pro te a chemical reaction in the stream of fluidizlng gas, or it may be a material reactive with the fluidizing gas. Alternatively, the solid phase may be a material which is treated by the fluidizing gas as in the case of fluidized drying.
One of the primary advantages of fluidized bed systems stems from the fact that the high turbulence in a fluidized bed system provides high heat transfer character-istics. In addition, because of the high turbulence in the fluidized bed, the sol~s in the fluidized ~ed system are thoroughly mixed with the fluidizing gas to form a relatively homogeneous system.
Fluidized bed systems are, however, not without disadvantages. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the use of fluidized systems for chemical reactions frequently results in channeling, a phenomenon caused by pockets in the ~; solid phase which results in the passage of gas through -the bed without intimate contact with the solid phase.
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~C~6~Z77 The problem of channeling in a fluidized bed system can be partiallr minimized by the use of a plurality of tubular zones through which the fluidizing gas is passed in contac~
with the solid phase. Each tube thus operates as an individual fluidized bed with a much smaller cross sectional area. Such tubular bed systems have even greater heat transfer charac-teristics because the plurality of tubular zones increase the ; surface area available for heat transfer.
In U.S. patent No. 2~ 5~36~! there is described a LO process for the con~ersion of starch to dextrin in a fluidized bed system in which the fluidized reactor includes a plurality of heat transfer tubes contained in the reactor to supply hea~
to the starch undergoing conversion. One of the primary dif-ficulties with a system of the type described in ~he foregoing -patent is that the starch, when contacted with an acid catalyst, tends to form lumps w;thin the fluidized bed reactor to therQby promote channeling, and hence, insufficient conversion of ~he starch to dextrin. Xn addition, tubular reactors used in dextrinization of starch are requently characterized by a ~20 "dead zone" at the upper portion where the starch may lay and be subjected to high temperatures ~or extended periods. Auto ignition can occur, causing fire and/or explosions.
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It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which overcomes the foregoing disad-vantages.
It is a further object of the present in~ention to provid~e a fluidized bed reactor capable of providing high heat ; transfer rates while minimizing channeling in the solid phase o~ the bed.~

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According to the invention there is provided apparatus for carrying out fluidized operations comprising an elongate generally upstanding housing, said housing defining an uppsr chamber, an intermediate cha~ber and a lower chamber, said upper and lower chambers each including agitating means therein, said agitating means including rotatable agitator blades mounted in each of said upper and lowèr chambers, a plurality of open ended tubes positioned in said intermediate chamber, the open ends of each of said tubes communicat.ing the interior of said tubes with the upper and lower chambers, respectively, inlet means to supply a fluidizable material to either of said upper or lower chamber, said intermediate chamber comprising jacket means surrounding the tubes to effect heat exchange therewith, outlet means to remove fluidizable material from the other of said upper or lower chamber and means to supply a fluidizing gas to the lower cha~ber whereby the fluidizing gas passes upwardly through the lower chamber, through each of the tubes and into the upper chamber while fluidizing the material therein, and outlet means in said upper chamber for removing said fluidizing gas.
In an especially preferred embodiment the inlet means is adapted to supply fluidizable material to the upper chamber and the outlet means is adapted to remove fluidizable material from the lower cha~ber~

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6~'~77 These and other objects of the present invenkion ~rill appear more fully hereinafter, and, for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodime~t of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is a section view of a fluidiæed apparakus embodying the features of the present invention;
~ igure 2 is a section view taken along lines 2-2 in Figure 1 and illustrating a la~ger number of tubes than in Figure 1 where only four tubes are shown for purposes of illustratiYe simplicity and, Figure 3 is a schematic view of the apparatus o~ the presen~ invention adapted for use in processing a fluidizable material.
The concepts of the present invention reside in a fluidized bed apparatus which is formed of a single elongate, generally upstanding reac~or which is divided into three sections. One is an upper chamber at the top portion of the reactor and the other is a lower chamber at the bo~tom portion of the reactor. Positioned between the upper and lower chambers !::
~ZO is a section ~ormed by a plurality o~ tubes each of which com-; municate at their upper end with the upper chamber and at their lower end wi~h the lower chamber~ The reactor also includes inlet means in the upper chamber to suppl~ a ~luidizable material to the upper chamber and outlet means in the lower chamber to remove fluidizable ma~erial from the system. The fluidizing~gas such as air, for example, is introduced through inlet means in the lower;~chamber and~passes upwardly through . ~ .
the lo~er chamber, through the plurality of tubes and into the upper chamber while fluidizing the fluidizable material in the 30~ lower chamber, the~tube~;and the~ upper chamber.

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.~0~9'h77 One of' the important features of ~le apparatus of this invention is that both the upper and lower chambers are provided with agitat:Lon means to further insure vigorous mixing in both the upper and lower chambers, In thi.s way, channeling in the upper and lower chambers is virtually elim~
inated, The fluidizable material thus introduced to the upper chamber flows by gravity downwardly ~rom the upper chamber, through the plurality of tubes and into the lower chamber ~rom which it is discharged from the apparatus. The soli~ phase LO or fluidizable material thus flows by gravity countercurrent to the fluidizing gas, and passes slow~y by gravi~y against th~
action of the suspending or fluidizing medium~
The apparatus of this invention is suitable for a wide variety of fluidized bed applica~ions including fluidized drying, petroleum cracking operations and the like where fluidized bed syst.ems have been used in the past.
Re~erring now to Figure 1, there is shown in detail a cross sec~ional view of the fluidized apparatus of this invention. The apparatus includes an elongate vertical ~O housing designated as 10 which defines in its upper portion, .~
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an upper chamber 12 having inlet means 14 to supply a fluidizable material thereto. The housing 10 also de~ines a lower chamber 16 positioned at substantially the bottom.
Both of the upper chamber 12 and the lower chamber 16 include agitator means 18 and 20, respectively. The agitator means 18 includes a shaft 22 mounted for rotation within the upper chamber 12~ Mounted on shaft 22 for rotation therewith are a plurality of blades 24 which may be in the ~orm of flat paddles rotatable with the shaft 22, The agitator means 20 in the lower chamber 16 similarly includes a rotatable shaft 26 having substantially flat blades 28 mounted for rotation ther~with.
In the preferred practice of this invention, the agitating means 18 iq formed with flat blades 24 at staggered locations, with additional flat blades 30 being mounted at a 90 angle between each of the blades 24. These blades present a substantially flat surface lying in a plane transverse to the direction of flow of the fluidizing gas. The agitating means 20 in the lower chamber 16 preferably has a similar configuration. If desired, some or all of the blades can be disposed at angle with respect to those illustrated, Positioned in the housing 10 in an intermediate section 32 are a plurality of tubes 34 having an upper end 36 ` communicating with the upper chamber 12 and a lower end 38 communicating with the lower chamber 16. In this way, fluidiz- -~
able material introduced to the inlet 14 flows by gravity down-wardly through the upper chamber 12 through the plurality of tubes 34 and into the lower chamber 16. The lower chamber 16 also includes ou~let means 40 to withdraw fluidizable material -~
therefrom.

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~6gZ~7 Positioned below the lower chamber 16 is a housing 42 defining a plenum chamber 44. Fluidizing gas is introduced to the plenum chamber through fluidizing gas inlet means 46, and passes through a foraminous distributor plate 48 into the lower chamber 16.
The arrangement of the tubes in the intermediate section 32 can be varied considerably~ One suitable arrange-ment for the tubes 34 in the section 32 is shown in Figure 2 of the drawing. As ~hown in this figure, the tubes 34 are arranged in a pattern about the center of the section 32.
At least the tubular section is provided with means to supply and/or remove heat therefrom. For this purpose, the section 32 preferably defines a jacket for heat exchange media which can be supplied to the section 32 by inlet means 64 and removed from the section or jacket 32 by outlet mean~ 50 as shown in Figure 1. It is also desirable in many instances to employ heat exchange means with the upper and lower chambers. For this purpose, it is generally sufficient to provide a jacket 52 surrounding the upper chamber 12, with the jacket 52 including inlet means 54 to supply heat exchange media to the jacket 52 and outlet means 56 to remove heat exchange media from the jacket 52.
As i~ shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, it is ' ~ufficient that the heat exchange jacket 52 for the upper chamber 12 extend only up to the inlet means 14~ However, it is ~; generally preferred that the upper chamber 12 include a dome portion 58 integral therewith from which the fluidizing gas may be removed from 1:he reactor by means of outlet mean~ 60. It will be appreciated that not only is the fluidizing gas removed from the outlet means 60, ' ~.:..

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but any "fines" entrained in -the fluid:iæing gas are carried out with it -through the outlet means 60. I-t is possible, and some~
- times desirable, -to form the upper chamber with an increased sectional area to reduce the linear velocity of the fluidizing gas to thereby assist in the separation of entrained particles of the solid phase. The cross sectional area of the dome itself may be increased, or~ the cross sectional area o-f -the entire chamber 12 may be increased for this purpose.
The lower chamber 16 may likewise be provided with heat exchange media, preferably in the form of a jacket 62, to which heat exchange media is supplied through inlet means 64 and from which the heat exchange media can be removed from outlet means 66.
The apparatus of the present invention adapted for use in processing a fluidizable material is shown in Figure 3 of the drawing. As shown in this figure, the supply of material is fed from a hopper 70 to the inlet means 14 for introduction to the upper chamber 12. In the preferred practice of the invention, steam, when beneficially useful is introduced through :, , line 72 and 74 into the heat exchange jacket 52 to supply heat `~ to the upper chamber. The shaft 22 of the agitation means 18 can be driven by suitable means 76 as shown in Figure 3.
The fluidizable material is fluidized by humid air -: introduced to the plenum chamber 44 through the inlet means 46 and passes upwardly through the lower chamber 16, through the tubes 34 in the intermediate section 32, and into -th~ upper -~ chamber 12. Steam as a heat exchange medium is also supplied through lines 78 to the jacket or section 32 and also through line 80 to the jacket 62 surrounding the lower chamber 16. In ` 30 this way, the upper and lower chambers as well as the tubular ' '.

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section are supplied with s-tearn -to heat the material passing therethrough.
Thus, -the fluidizable material supplied to the inlet means 14 is immediately fluidized in the upper chamber 12 while the upper chamber 12 is continuously agitated by the blades 24 and 30. The material slowly flows by gravity against the action of the fluidizing medium downwardly through the upper chamber, while subjected to agitation, continuing its downward flow by gravity against -the suspending action of the air through the tubes 3~ in which there is no agitation, except for -that which occurs naturally due to the 1nherent turbulence in the tubes containing the fluidized material. ~fter descending through the tubes 34, the fluidized material continues its descent into the lower chamber 16 again against the action of the heated air, and it is removed from the lower chamber 16 through the outlet means 40.
In the preferred practice of -the invention, the product removed through line 40 is passed through a rotary air lock 82 into a pneumatic cooling tube where the temperature of the product is lowered to below 150 F. For this purpose, the product is discharged through the rotary air lock 82 into the cooling tube 84 and to collect equipment through line 86.
Dust or fines discharged through the discharge means 60 is removed by means of a cyclone 88, and is thus transported by dust discharge line 90 to the collection equipmen-t through line 86.
It is to be understood fluidizing media other than air can be used. For example, steam, or inert gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc., preferably containing some moisture can be used. In addition, flue gases from combustion operations can similarly be used as the fluidizing medium is desired. It :

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is not essential that the fluidizing medium add any sensible heat to -the material undergoing fluid:ization since the tubular section of -the reactor employed with -the concepts in the practice of this invention is capable of providing all of the heat necessary to efficien-tly effect the reaction.
The apparatus of this invent:ion provides numerous advantages. For example, the use of the upper and lower agitated chambers in -the fluidized bed apparatus of this in-vention maintains homogeneity in -the fluidized bed, and pre-vents scorching of the material as it is passed through the tubular section of the reactor. The process and apparatus of this invention is capable of producing high quality products at low cost, without the risk of disadvantages mentioned hereinabove.
It will also be understood that the apparatus of the invention can be used for other fluidized bed operations.
Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the feed and dis-charge arrangements of the apparatus as described herein may be reversed whereby the material to be fluidized is fed to the bottom of the reactor and the solid material to be recovered is removed from the top of the reactor.

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Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. Apparatus for carrying out fluidized operations com-prising an elongate generally upstanding housing, said housing defining an upper chamber, an intermediate chamber and a lower chamber, said upper and lower chambers each including agitating means therein, said agitating means including rotatable agitator blades mounted in each of said upper and lower chambers, a plurality of open ended tubes positioned in said intermediate chamber, the open ends of each of said tubes communicating the interior of said tubes with the upper and lower chambers, respectively, inlet means to supply a fluidizable material to either of said upper or lower chamber, said intermediate chamber comprising jacket means surrounding the tubes to effect heat exchange therewith, outlet means to remove fluidizable material from the other of said upper or lower chamber and means to supply a fluidizing gas to the lower chamber whereby the fluidizing gas passes upwardly through the lower chamber, through each of the tubes and into the upper chamber while fluidizing the material therein, and outlet means in said upper chamber for removing said fluidizing gas,

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the upper chamber includes heat transfer means surrounding the upper chamber.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the lower chamber includes heat transfer means surrounding the lower chamber.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the cross sectional area of each of the tubes is less than the cross sectional area of each of both the upper chamber and the lower chamber.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the upper chamber further includes means exterior to said upper chamber and connected and communicating therewith to remove fine particles of the fluidizable material from said upper chamber.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the agitating means includes a shaft rotatably mounted in each of the upper and lower chambers and a plurality of agitator blades mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the agitator blades are dimensioned to sweep substantially the entire cross section of each of the upper and lower chambers.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the agitator blades have substantially flat surfaces transverse to the direction of the fluidizing gas.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the agitator blades are staggered, with one blade being mounted at an orientation of 90° in relation to the adjacent upper or lower blades.

10. Apparatus for carrying out fluidized operations of cohesive solids comprising an elongate generally upstanding housing, said housing defining an upper chamber, an inter-mediate chamber and a lower chamber, said upper and lower chambers including agitating means therein, said agitating means including rotatable agitator blades mounted in each of said upper and lower chambers, a plurality of open ended tubes positioned in said intermediate chamber having the open ends of each of said tubes communicating the interior of said tubes with the upper and lower chambers, respectively, inlet means to supply a fluidizable material to the upper chamber, said intermediate chamber comprising jacket means surrounding the tubes to effect heat exchange therewith, outlet means to remove fluidizable material from the lower chamber and means to supply a fluidizing gas to the lower chamber whereby the fluidizing gas passes up-wardly through the lower chamber, through each of the tubes and into the upper chamber while fluidizing the material therein, and outlet means in said upper chamber for removing said fluidizing gas.

11. Apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the agitating means includes a shaft rotatably mounted in each of the upper and lower chambers and a plurality of agitator blades mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith.